Technical Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an electrical connector with the female terminal movable inside the electrical connector cavity and a motor with such an electrical connector.
Brief Description of the Related Art
Electrical connectors have been developed for the motor industry. In the motor industry an electrical connector that comprises a female terminal inside a connector housing is used. Such a connector housing is sometimes integrally formed with a motor cover or a brush holder plate and therefore a female terminal is built into the connector housing portion of a motor cover or a brush holder plate. Terminals may be made from conductive metal, such as copper. Technical norms require that the female connector should be able to move inside the electrical connector cavity in all directions, to allow the expansion of the female terminal, particularly because the female terminal spreads out when the female terminal receives the mating male terminal or because the female terminal is swollen when temperature increases. This ensures, in turn, less friction oxidation on the point where the female terminal contacts the electrical connector cavity.
The patent publication U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0129407 describes an electrical connector for connecting to a male blade terminal. The electrical connector comprises a female terminal including one or more pairs of opposing beams for compressing against the male blade terminal. Clamping means are provided. However this patent publication does not disclose any feature that the female terminal inside the electrical connector cavity does not always contact any part of the side wall of the electrical connector cavity and therefore the female connector is movable inside the electrical connector cavity. Such a feature can avoid friction oxidation of the female terminal especially when the mating male terminal is inserted into the female terminal.
In case the electrical connector cavity is large but the terminal is too small, the female terminal is movable inside the electrical connector cavity and tilts inside the electrical connector cavity and can avoid friction oxidation of the female terminal when the mating male terminal is inserted into the female terminal. However due to too much space in the electrical connector cavity, the female terminal can be misaligned from the opening of the electrical connector where the mating male terminal is inserted into. The terminals can be damaged when the mating terminal is inserted.
One solution is making the electrical connector cavity smaller in order to reduce the female terminal movement. However, the smaller electrical connector cavity creates an interference condition when the mating male terminal is inserted into the female terminal, and the female terminal expands outward, and the expanded female terminal prevents the female terminal from moving inside the electrical connector cavity. This increases the risk of friction oxidation.
An object of the present invention is to provide an improved electrical connector with a female terminal which can keep the female terminal movable inside an electrical connector cavity.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector with a female terminal which has durability against the pressure at the time of insertion of the mating male terminal into the female terminal.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide for an electrical motor having such an electrical connector with a female terminal.